Association of Vitamin D Levels With Outcome in Patients With Melanoma After Adjustment For C-Reactive Protein.

Purpose: To evaluate for an association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels (vitamin D) and outcome measures in patients with melanoma after evaluation is controlled for systemic inflammatory response (SIR) on the basis of simultaneous C-reactive protein (CRP) measurement.

Materials And Methods: Plasma samples from 1,042 prospectively observed patients with melanoma were assayed for vitamin D and CRP. The associations of demographics and CRP with vitamin D were determined, followed by a determination of the association between vitamin D and stage and outcome measures from the date of blood draw.

C-reactive protein as a marker of melanoma progression.

Purpose: To investigate the association between blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in patients with melanoma and overall survival (OS), melanoma-specific survival (MSS), and disease-free survival.

Patients And Methods: Two independent sets of plasma samples from a total of 1,144 patients with melanoma (587 initial and 557 confirmatory) were available for CRP determination. Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression were used to evaluate the relationship between CRP and clinical outcome.

Genome-wide association study identifies novel loci predisposing to cutaneous melanoma.

We performed a multistage genome-wide association study of melanoma. In a discovery cohort of 1804 melanoma cases and 1026 controls, we identified loci at chromosomes 15q13.1 (HERC2/OCA2 region) and 16q24.

Developmental impacts of heavy metals and undernutrition.

A recent Lancet series highlighted enormous loss to young children's developmental potential in developing countries, from exposure to sociocultural and health risks. The possibility that nutritional deficiencies might exacerbate the adverse impact of environmental exposures to developmental toxicants such as heavy metals and pesticides has not been explored. While both arsenic and manganese exposures have known neurotoxicity in adults, systematic investigation in young children has only recently begun.

Setting priorities in global child health research investments: assessment of principles and practice.

This article reviews theoretical and practical approaches for setting priorities in global child health research investments. It also provides an overview of previous attempts to develop appropriate tools and methodologies to define priorities in health research investments. A brief review of the most important theoretical concepts that should govern priority setting processes is undertaken, showing how different perspectives, such as medical, economical, legal, ethical, social, political, rational, philosophical, stakeholder driven, and others will necessarily conflict each other in determining priorities.

Child development: risk factors for adverse outcomes in developing countries.

Poverty and associated health, nutrition, and social factors prevent at least 200 million children in developing countries from attaining their developmental potential. We review the evidence linking compromised development with modifiable biological and psychosocial risks encountered by children from birth to 5 years of age. We identify four key risk factors where the need for intervention is urgent: stunting, inadequate cognitive stimulation, iodine deficiency, and iron deficiency anaemia.

Zinc supplementation and psychosocial stimulation: effects on the development of undernourished Jamaican children.

Background: Undernourished children have poor levels of development that benefit from stimulation. Zinc deficiency is prevalent in undernourished children and may contribute to their poor development.

Objective: We assessed the effects of zinc supplementation and psychosocial stimulation given together or separately on the psychomotor development of undernourished children.

A randomized controlled trial of a home-visiting intervention on cognition and behavior in term low birth weight infants.

Objectives: To determine whether early psychosocial intervention with low birth weight term (LBW-T) infants improved cognition and behavior and to compare LBW-T with normal birth weight (NBW) infants.

Study Design: A randomized controlled trial was carried out in Kingston, Jamaica, with 140 LBW-T infants (weight<2500 g). The intervention comprised weekly home visits by paraprofessionals for the first 8 weeks of life aimed at improving maternal-child interaction.

Perceptions and experiences of violence among secondary school students in urban Jamaica.

Objective: To obtain information on the perceptions and experiences of violence among secondary school students in Kingston, Jamaica, and its environs.

Methods: Data collection was carried out from September through December 1998. Two researchers administered questionnaires in 11 randomly selected secondary schools, to a total of 1 710 students who were in either grade 7 or grade 9 and who were aged 9-17 years old (mean of 13.

Caregiver knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding childhood diarrhea and dehydration in Kingston, Jamaica.

Objective: To study the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of caregivers in Kingston, Jamaica, regarding childhood diarrhea and dehydration in order to determine if limited caregiver knowledge about the prevention and treatment of diarrhea and dehydration puts children at increased risk of presenting at the hospital for these concerns.

Methods: The study was an observational case-control study conducted between February 1997 and May 1997 at Bustamante Hospital for Children in Kingston. Convenience sampling was used and data were collected by face-to-face interviews with two groups of caregivers of children under 5 years of age.